{"id":4819,"date":"2015-03-12T16:07:19","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T16:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/AFRICAtime\/?p=4819"},"modified":"2020-07-21T13:36:38","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T12:36:38","slug":"meet-the-born-free-triplets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/meet-the-born-free-triplets-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Born Free Triplets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"somak\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"somak\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/3-leopard-cubs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive aligncenter wp-image-6538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/3-leopard-cubs.jpg\" alt=\"Three leopards at the Born Free Cat Sanctuary, Shamwari, South Africa\" width=\"720\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/3-leopard-cubs.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/3-leopard-cubs-463x300.jpg 463w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"somak\">Alam, Nimira and Sami are a stunning family of leopards who live at Born Free\u2019s big cat sanctuary at Shamwari Reserve in South Africa. Here, in their natural habitat enclosure over four acres in size, the trio enjoy life surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of Africa.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The triplets were found abandoned in the Sudanese bush by soldiers. They were just tiny, two-week old cubs, far too small to survive on their own without their mother\u2019s care. The soldiers did their best to look after them, but only had cow\u2019s milk to feed them with, which isn\u2019t suitable for cat species. It is extremely difficult to care for a wild animal and the cubs became poorly, with swollen tummies and runny eyes and noses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Born Free arranged for the cubs to receive veterinary care, and offered them a new home at Shamwari. With the help of supporters and a Sunday Express appeal, enough money was raised for the rescue mission to go ahead. The cubs were carefully loaded into travel crates and flown to South Africa.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/58C9607.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive aligncenter wp-image-6537\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/58C9607.jpg\" alt=\"Born Free staff carrying a leopard\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/58C9607.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/58C9607-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Arriving at Shamwari, 20 hours later, the cubs were nervous at first and tiptoed out of their crates. The two brothers and their sister were rather unsure about the sandy soil and grass beneath their feet. Then, more confident, they began to explore the dense undergrowth, and trees and bushes of their spacious enclosure. The trio quickly settled into their new home and with expert care they quickly became strong and healthy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Over the years the triplets flourished and grew into relaxed, confident and affectionate adults. Their close bonds have remained to this day, though they like \u2018alone\u2019 time too, their vast enclosure allowing them to have space from each other if they wish. Sami is very much \u2018top cat\u2019, and loves to wrestle and play-fight with gentle brother Alam. But both brothers are extremely respectful of their sister Nimira. She might be small, but she\u2019s extremely feisty!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Leopard-Triplets-c-BFF.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive aligncenter wp-image-6539\" src=\"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Leopard-Triplets-c-BFF.jpg\" alt=\"Three beautiful leopards in the Born Free Cat Sanctuary, South Africa\" width=\"720\" height=\"461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Leopard-Triplets-c-BFF.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Leopard-Triplets-c-BFF-468x300.jpg 468w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/h2>\n<p>Leopards live throughout sub-Saharan Africa, they cover a wide range of habitats from the thick forests of West Africa to the highlands of Ethiopia, but they prefer thick bush and riverine forests.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Best Places to spot a leopard<\/h2>\n<p>Botswana \u2013 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/botswana\/okavango-delta\">Okavango Delta<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>South Africa \u2013 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/south_africa\/kruger-national-park\">Greater Kruger Area<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Zimbabwe &#8211; \u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/zimbabwe\/hwange\">Hwange National Park<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Kenya &#8211;<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/kenya\/masai-mara\"> Masai Mara<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/kenya\/tsavo\">Tsavo <\/a><\/strong><\/span>and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/kenya\/amboseli\">Amboseli National Parks<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Tanzania \u2013<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/tanzania\/serengeti\"> Serengeti National Park<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/tanzania\/ngorongoro\">Ngorongoro Conversvation Area<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Zambia \u2013 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.somak.com\/zambia\/zambia\">South Luangwa National Park\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,30,444,29],"tags":[515,529],"class_list":["post-4819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-botswana","category-south-africa","category-special-interest","category-zambia","tag-born-free","tag-leopards"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/3-leopard-cubs.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4819"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11152,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4819\/revisions\/11152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}